Caretaker-manager Ian ‘Charlie’ McParland says Town’s coaches and players were shocked to hear of manager Roy Keane’s sacking when they arrived at Playford Road this morning. McParland will take charge of a much-weakened Blues side in the FA Cup at Chelsea on Sunday with midfielder Jake Livermore also now ruled out of the trip to Stamford Bridge.
Speaking to the press this lunchtime, one-time Notts County manager McParland said: "I’m still a bit shocked at the minute. I didn’t really know what was going on until this morning. It’s always a shock when a manager leaves a football club.
"The coaches are disappointed, the players are disappointed , the lads were quiet to start with. They were a bit shocked, but they got on with it.”
The Scot says he talked to his former boss earlier today: "I spoke to Roy this morning. Roy’s a professional and a proud man, and he’s a human being, let’s not forget that, he’s going to be upset. If you were to get sacked from a job, you’d be upset.
"But he’s a tough cookie and he’ll go on to be a good manager. No, he’s a good manager now, he’s had success at Sunderland. He’ll be fine.”
The Blues coach, who says he has no intention of applying for the job full-time and expects to move on when a new manager is appointed, says it’s often a fine line between success and failure for managers: "In football there are very small margins. Lots of managers will say the same things — games that you could have won, small dividing lines between being successful and not so successful and climbing that table.”
McParland dismissed suggestions that Keane ruled his squad by fear: "I think a lot of people have got the wrong impression of Roy Keane. Roy Keane is a fair, fair man, a fair, honest man.
"Like any other manager you have your moments with players, but sometimes they deserve it. There’s this persona of Roy Keane, but you couldn’t meet a better man than Roy Keane.”
The 49-year-old says he will sit down and look at picking the team for Chelsea on Saturday once the shock of Keane’s departure has diminished.
Central defender Gareth McAuley looks likely to be fit after suffering a hamstring problem on Monday, but loanee midfielder Jake Livermore has a groin injury and has been ruled out, despite having been given permission to play by Spurs.
McParland says defender Darren O’Dea’s clearance from Celtic is "90% there” with the Blues now without Jack Colback, who was recalled by Sunderland yesterday.
Grant Leadbitter is suspended after being red-carded against Nottingham Forest, while Rory Fallon is cup-tied having represented Plymouth earlier in the competition. Brian Murphy (broken ankle) and Shane O’Connor (ruptured shoulder) are longer term absentees.